Can someone tell me about vodun festivals rituals and worship?

Answer 1

In a Vodun ritual in the West African nation of Benin, a priestess offers her prayers and praise to one of the many deities who make up the vodun spiritual universe. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

"Vodun is a religion. It's a religion which is perhaps equally importantly a philosophy. It's a philosophy about life."

Suzanne Preston Blier is a Professor of Fine Arts and Afro-American Studies at Harvard University and a consultant for a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History: "The Sacred Arts of Haitian Voodoo."

"It's about the way in which one proceeds in the course of life. The term itself derives from the local language which means literally: 'rest to draw the water.' 'Vo' meaning to rest quietly and 'dun' to fetch water, to bring water from a well. And in this sense it's a philosophy about -- no matter what's going on in life, no matter how difficult things are, that one has to move through it with a certain quietness, ease...One should have faith, ultimately, in the powers of the various gods and in conjunction with that, perform whatever related ceremonies are asked of one and things will turn out in a positive way."

"There's some ceremonial attributes that one might do every day. For example, first thing when one gets up in the morning, the children of the house will take small brooms and sweep the face of the Earth. It's to clean the face of Mother Earth. It is a ritual action that's dedicated to the power of the Earth. It's a small ceremony in part of a larger tradition."

*

"The ritual part of creating a Vodun shrine is extraordinarily important. Each priest of each deity creates a temple in a different way depending on the particular god and what is required for that altar. But generally what one does in Benin is to dig a hole and bring together a series of very different materials. And they include everything from plants of various sorts, different types of textiles broken up together, beads because both textiles and beads are associated with different gods. The blood of particular animals which are offered in that context and then consumed generally as part of the feast following that. And different attributes of the gods. For example, for the god Goo, god of iron, one will put in miniature iron tools and weapons and put it together, place it inside the Earth, sanctify it, create a mound on top of it and when you do this in the context of a really serious ritual with a priest and a group of individuals around it, then it becomes something greater. Something which has more power. Something which can in fact effectuate change in the lives of the various individuals."